There's one series I don't mind unlocking episodes for when I have spare gift ink that will expire. Ad ink I save for tipping events.I WOULD buy ink if only I had more disposable income. But alas, I'm a poor artist.

i agree that artists and writers not only need but deserve compensation for their work, and i hope to soon be in a situation where i can liberally, directly, support my favourite creators

that said, im not willing to buy premium episodes usually just because the premium stories just dont appeal to me and arent worth the effort of gathering coins - generally ive grown up averse to paying for media, which im starting to feel is an impulse i need to reverse, but it pushes me away from stuff i cant at least preview for free and the things i pay for are usually the things i really love / value.

in @LordVincent defence - as ive had this conversation with him before - i dont think hes talking about people who just dont read premium, but rather talking about the people hes encountered who get angry at him for producing premium content.

not consuming content you have to pay for is fine - as i said earlier, most of the premium comics arent worth the bother for me - but complaining that paid content isnt free betrays the entitlement vince is talking about.

that said, i agree with you that anyone harbouring disdain for people who avoid premium generally would leave a bad taste in my mouth, and i find the most exciting work on the free side of wall as well (given premium has a bit of the same gatekeeping safe decision making as oldschool publishing). but i do think people who create work for free still deserve compensation and that people who can support them and enjoy their work should feel compelled to give them direct support.

I buy what I like to read, and it's generally not premium comics.If I come across one that I most likely will like, I would pay for it.However, I think it's most likely going to happen with wait for free, because I can delay the time when I pay: not for money reason but for support reason. I would hate to support an artist and then realize the comic is promoting nauseous ideas etc.. I like to support, but I like to know what I support.Also, I would like to be able to give ink to anyone. I can think of small comics I would like to support, and I would probably be quite generous for some. This is a bit a shame to not be able to support everyone, even these who are not very successful (yet).

@punkarsenic That's also how I understood @LordVincent message. It was clearly addressed to people who complain that it should not be paying, no to people who choose to read something else.

You read my post entirely wrong. The people i talk about when I spoke of entitlement are not people who merely choose not to purchase premium content. That is fine. As a consumer you are entirely entitled to that choice.

What you are NOT entitled to is paid content without paying. If an artist states a price, you accept or move away. You don't haggle, you don't moan, and you certainly shouldn't (and this is something i experienced) attempt to start a mob against the seller to bully them into releasing it for free. THAT is entitlement and that is what I was referring to in my post.

People have literally used guilt, threats and other manipulation methods to try to get me to release my premium comics for free. It is ridiculous.

Oh yeah, no that is definitely a valid reason. I run into that one quite a lot. When it comes to a lot of exclusive/expensive products, it's a matter of the product finding the right customer rather than as many as possible.

For example I ended up paying probably around $300 for a exclusive dakimakura from one of my favorite series. If it had been almost any other series, I would have never considered it worth it.

Personally, I usually spent all my ink on my Creator - Friends, and earn it with Ads. (mostly bc there´s still a lot of uncertainity about "online only" prodcuts in me that my parents hammered into me to prevent me from buying things ingame or something, I suppose. I can rationally think that it is different and that I am supporting someone, even if I don´t have a physical product - but the virtual translation is another page)Btw, I´m in a discord with a lot of "only - readers" now (a interesting experience, btw.) and from that place I can say, definitely the "older" people (30 and up) buy their ink with money, but it seems to gradually become more and more accepted amongst younger folk, too. Which is good!

T_T I want to say my husband is awesome... he got a bit extra on a commission and I was lamenting how many ads I'd have to wacth to EVER catch up on the one premium comic I'm willing to give ink to (over 30K ink for all the eps)....

He gave me his pay pal and let me buy up to the current ups on the condition I use earned ink after this.